CBI moves SC to allow it to share Coal info with govt

CBI has requested the Supreme Court to lift the bar on sharing information of its investigation into the coal block allocations.

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has requested the Supreme Court to lift the bar on sharing information of its investigation into the coal block allocations with the government, saying it is imperative for seeking sanction to prosecute officials in the case. In a fresh application before court, the agency said it also needed to brief inhouse counsels as well as government law officers on how best to deal with these cases once first information reports or FIRs were filed.

The CBI urged the top court to "permit consultation with and sharing of reports of investigation as per provisions of the CBI manual or in the event of any petition being filed with the team of CBI prosecutors and inhouse legal authorities."

This is necessary for scrutiny of evidence against the accused so that it stands up in court, the agency said. Since some of the accused in the case may file petitions in courts, it will need to be defended, it said.

The Supreme Court had on May 8 directed the CBI to desist from sharing any information with the government after it emerged that the agency had allowed officials of the coal ministry and the Prime Minister's Office to alter its draft status report on the scandal, which was later vetted by the then law minister.

A bench of the apex court had expressed shock over these revelations, saying it was unthinkable that a prosecuting agency would share information with the suspects in any case. The court had then asked the CBI not to share details of its investigation with any person or authority including any minister of the Union Cabinet, law officers and advocates, the director of prosecution and officials of the central government.

It had also asked the government to take urgent steps to insulate the CBI from political pressures or set the stage for court intervention to make it independent. The government has since submitted several proposals to the top court on ways to make the CBI independent. These are yet to be heard by the court.

The CBI on Monday also submitted another status report on the probe to the court, listing progress in investigations in the case. The agency said it had registered three preliminary enquiries and 13 regular cases.

Since investigations were drawing to a close and consequent actions would now have to be taken, the agency sought waiver of the "no-sharing" order. It specifically referred to the case of former coal secretary HC Gupta in this context.

The government had denied the agency sanction to prosecute Gupta in the first instance, but the decision was overturned after the CBI sent a detailed report enumerating the evidence against him.